Beginning
21 3 He threateneth the sword and destruction to Jerusalem. 25 He showeth the fall of king Zedekiah. 29 He is commanded to prophesy the destruction of the children of Ammon. 30 The Lord threateneth to destroy Nebuchadnezzar.
1 The word of the Lord came to me again, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, [a]and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel,
3 And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I come against thee, and will draw my sword out of his sheath, and cut off from thee both the [b]righteous and the wicked.
4 Seeing then that I will cut off from thee both the righteous and wicked, therefore shall my sword go out of his sheath against all flesh from the South to the [c]North,
5 That all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn my sword out of his sheath, and it shall not return anymore.
6 Mourn therefore thou son of man, as in the pain of thy [d]reins, and mourn bitterly before them.
7 And if they say unto thee, Wherefore mournest thou? Then answer, Because [e]of the bruit: for it cometh, and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be weak, and all minds shall faint, and all knees shall fall away as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be done, saith the Lord God.
8 ¶ Again, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
9 Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord God, say, A sword, a sword both sharp and furbished.
10 It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter, and it is furbished that it may [f]glitter: how shall we rejoice? for it contemneth the [g]rod of my son, as [h]all other trees.
11 And he hath given it to be furbished, that he may handle it: this sword is sharp, and is furbished that he may give it into the hand of the [i]slayer.
12 Cry and howl, son of man: for this shall come to my people, and it shall come unto all the princes of Israel: the terrors of the sword shall be upon my people, [j]smite therefore upon thy thigh.
13 For it is a trial, [k]and what shall this be, if the sword contemn even the rod? It shall be no more, saith the Lord God.
14 Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy and smite [l]hand to hand, and let the sword be doubled: let the sword that hath killed, return the third time: it is the sword of the great slaughter entering into their privy chambers.
15 I have brought the fear of the sword into all their gates to make their heart to faint, and to multiply their ruins. Ah, it is made bright, and it is dressed for the slaughter.
16 Get thee [m]alone: go to the right hand, or get thyself to the left hand, whithersoever thy face turneth.
17 I will also smite mine hands together, and will cause my wrath to cease. I the Lord have said it.
18 ¶ The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying,
19 Also thou son of man, appoint thee [n]two ways, that the sword of the King of Babel may come: both twain shall come out of one land, and choose a place, and choose it in the corner of the way of the city.
20 Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbah of the Ammonites, and [o]to Judah in Jerusalem the strong city.
21 And the King of Babel stood at the [p]parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, consulting by divination, and made his arrows bright: he consulted with idols, and looked in [q]the liver.
22 At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem to appoint captains to open their mouth in the slaughter, and to lift up their voice with shouting, to lay engines of war against the gates, to cast a mount, and to build a fortress.
23 And it shall be unto them [r]as a false divination in their sight for the oaths made unto them: [s]but he will call to remembrance their iniquity, to the intent they should be taken.
24 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered in discovering your rebellion, that in all your works your sins might appear: because, I say, that ye are come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand.
25 And thou [t]Prince of Israel polluted, and wicked, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end,
26 Thus saith the Lord God, I will take away the [u]diadem, and take off the crown: this shall be no more the same: I will exalt the humble, and will abase him that is high.
27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, and it shall be no more until he [v]come, whose right it is, and I will give it him.
28 ¶ And thou, son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord God to the children of Ammon, and to their blasphemy: say thou, I say, The sword, the sword is drawn forth and furbished to the slaughter, to consume, because of the glittering,
29 While they see [w]vanity unto thee, and prophesied a lie unto thee to bring thee upon the necks of the wicked that are slain, whose day is come, when their iniquity shall have an end.
30 Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will judge thee in the place where thou wast created, even in the land of thine habitation.
31 And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee, and will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath, and deliver thee into the hand of beastly men, and skillful to destroy.
32 Thou shalt be in the fire to be devoured: thy blood shall be in the midst of the land, and thou shalt be no more remembered: for I the Lord have spoken it.
22 1 Jerusalem is reproved for cruelty. 25 Of the wicked doctrine of the false prophets and priests, and of their unsatiable covetousness. 26 The tyranny of rulers. 29 The wickedness of the people.
1 Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2 Now thou son of man, wilt thou [x]judge, wilt thou judge this bloody city? wilt thou show her all her abominations?
3 Then say, Thus saith the Lord God, The city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her [y]time may come, and maketh idols against [z]herself, to pollute herself.
4 Thou hast offended in thy blood, that thou hast shed, and hast polluted thyself in thine idols, which thou hast made, and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come unto thy term: therefore have I made thee a reproach to the heathen, and a mocking to all countries.
5 Those that be near, and those that be far from thee, shall mock thee, which art vile in [aa]name and sore in affliction.
6 Behold, the princes of Israel everyone in thee was ready to his power, to shed blood.
7 In thee have they despised father and mother: in the midst of thee [ab]have they oppressed the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.
8 Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast polluted my Sabbaths.
9 In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: in thee are they that eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit abomination.
10 (A)In thee have they discovered their fathers’ shame: in thee have they vexed her that was polluted in her flowers.
11 And everyone (B)hath committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife, and everyone hath wickedly defiled his daughter-in-law, and in thee hath every man forced his own sister, even his father’s daughter.
12 In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood: thou hast taken usury and the increase, and thou hast defrauded thy neighbors by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God.
13 Behold, therefore I have [ac]smitten mine hands upon thy covetousness, that thou hast used, and upon the blood, which hath been in the midst of thee.
14 Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands [ad]be strong, in the days that I shall have to do with thee? I the Lord have spoken it, and will do it.
15 And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will cause thy [ae]filthiness to cease from thee.
16 And thou shalt take thine [af]inheritance in thyself in the sight of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.
17 ¶ And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
18 Son of man, the house of Israel is unto me as [ag]dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead in the midst of the furnace: they are even the dross of silver.
19 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Because ye are all as dross, behold, therefore I will gather you in the midst of Jerusalem.
20 As they gather silver and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it to melt it, so will I gather you in mine anger and in my wrath, and will put you there [ah]and melt you.
21 I will gather you, I say, and blow the fire of my wrath upon you, and you shall be melted in the midst thereof.
22 As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof, and ye shall know that I the Lord have poured out my wrath upon you.
23 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
24 Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land, that is unclean, [ai]and not rained upon in the day of wrath.
25 There is a conspiracy [aj]of her prophets in the midst thereof like a roaring lion, ravening the prey: they have devoured souls: they have taken the riches and precious things: they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.
26 Her Priests have broken my Law, and have defiled mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither discerned between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their [ak]eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
27 Her princes in (C)the midst thereof are like wolves, ravening the prey to shed blood, and to destroy souls for their own covetous lucre.
28 And her [al]prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanities, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord had not spoken.
29 The people of the land have violently oppressed by spoiling and robbing, and have vexed the poor and the needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger against right.
30 And I sought for a man among them, that should [am]make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.
31 Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them, and consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own ways have I rendered upon their heads, saith the Lord God.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.